I had just assumed that upon the death of the last WWI combat veteran there would have been some mention of him in the major media, after all World War One was our official coming out party as a great power. The balance of power in Europe had been destroyed, Germany had knocked Russia out of the war and the French army had mutinied in several sectors along the line. After all, with a 100% casualty rate in many French divisions (that meant you were guaranteed to die) wouldn't you mutiny?
Silly me, it was a stupid assumption on my part. Americans don't care about the past. They see no relevance in it and most have no personal connection with our wars -- a theme as alive then as it is today.
But I had a connection with a World War One veteran. His name was Pfc Edward Neidermier. He was born in Iowa to German parents who supported the war effort. A pair of German farmers who so loved their adopted country that they allowed their son to lie about his age and enlist early.
I met Pfc. Neidermier back in 1991. (I was interviewing him for an undergraduate assignment.) He was well into his 90s then but his mind was as sharp as ever. He maintained a vigorous correspondence with the surviving members of World War One and had been promoted to commander of the World War One Veterans Barracks, an association of World War One survivors. And he adored and doted on his 'young' wife -- she was ten years younger than he and that was a scandalous thing to do in his youth.
As I sat in his study that cold day up in Dallas he told me his story, how he'd taken the train to New York City and how tears welled up in his eyes as his troop ship passed the Statue of Liberty and he wondered if he would ever see her again.
His last desire in life was to be the sole remaining veteran of World War One a wish that was not granted to him, but to another man who served his nation just as proudly an honorably. Sadly Cpl. Howard V. Ramsey died in March without any fanfare. I suppose it is just as well. Such a catastrophic war was destined to be overshadowed by World War Two in prominence, just like the soldiers who fought World War One were to be overshadowed and largely forgotten -- except by me.
I'll never forget Pfc. Ed, as he liked to call himself, the smile on his face when we shook hands, the pleasure he derived by seeing the awe on my face when he showed me a German mauser he'd pilfered from the trenches. It's hard to get much more close to history without making it than that.
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Comments: 38
To my mind, it is important and deserves attention. Most especially now when we are engaged in endless debate about the war in Iraq.
I'm 30 years old. My grandfather told me that when he was a boy, and the parades would wind threw his town on holidays, a few Civil War veterans could be seen marching through. My mother saw veterans of the Spanish-American War as a girl. Perhaps, my grandchildren will say, with awe, that their grandfather actually saw people who fought in WWI, the War to End All Wars.
I think it's important to remember these era defining events and recall how close we all are to them still.
Just click on the Press Room
"And the band played 'Waltzing Matilda',
And the old men still answer the call.
But year after year, the numbers get fewer,
Someday no one will march there at all."
William Evan Allen, of the Royal Australian Navy, was the last ANZAC veteran of WWI; he died October 18, 2005.
Both of my grandfathers served in WWI: my mother's father, Henry Marion Smith, was an infantryman; he was gassed by the Germans, which ruined his lungs. He contracted tuberculosis, and shot himself in the mid-1930's. My paternal grandfather, Frank Henry Sloman, couldn't get into the Army because of a leg injury; he joined the Stanford University Ambulance Service and drove field ambulances in France. After the war he managed to get into the US Navy as an aviator; as a pilot instructor he was killed in 1921 (no dual controls in those days; his student crashed the plane).
War had changed so radically between our last previous war in 1898 and 1917 that our troops generally had no idea of what they were getting into, but they went because it was the "war to end all wars". Oh? Not for my father in WWII and Korea, not for me in the Viet Nam War, not for those in Afghanistan and Iraq now. But they still answer the call, and as has been said in another thread elsewhere on Gather, whatever you think of the war, the troops themselves deserve honor and respect, and the dead deserve our memory and the promise that we will try to end all wars, however impractical that promise might be. It's what they thought they were fighting for.
Every veteran of our services should be remembered regardless of whether or not it was a popular war or an unpopular war. Their sacrifices should be honored now and forever.
Thank you for helping to keep their memory alive for another generation.
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U wishing you laughter
Sylvia, there are many more than 5...my Dad being one of them. Those folks are in their 80's now, but many are still kicking.
What IF we networked all those of every religion and spirituality who've been building and building their spiritual energy strength/ability to send LOVE with one-pointed focus - What if they all worked together to LOVE THE ENEMIES [opponents - all participants in the warmongering] INTO PEACEFUL HEARTEDNESS?
What if?
We'd be using spiritual warriors - mature initiates - in a highly productive enterprise, one which would transform the destructive murderous thoughts, words, and actions of all the enemies [as in USA/Iraq, or Israel/Palestine, etc] into productive/creative good planetary stewardship and true godliness.
We can DO this - we just have been too lazy to try. We keep taking the "easy way out" - of dumping our young into the hellpot to blast and be blasted - rather than the more difficult way of taking the time and energy to raise our young into spiritual maturity and excellent planetary stewardship.
We can do better.
World Wars - happened. Soldiers - died young.
World Peace can happen, too; and SOULjers can do their excellent LoveWork in the true spirit of Freedom.
It is a sad day that a country would forget those who gave so much. Those solders who's fortune had allowed them to return are always pushed aside when the fighting is done. They are of no use to politicians except on holidays and election day. To know that these brave veterans of this folly in the Mideast will be pushed aside in the same way is a disgrace. Oh wait they already have been.
Itis truely a shame that todays media does not honor those that have formed our present free world.
Honor those in our pass that have given so much, and this encompasses more then just our brave soldiers.
Blessings
Sean-Paul, you are so inspiring for letting us know about this. I realise that the younger generations have no interest in our history. I know when I was high school I didn't. Now that I am older, history facinates me. I watch the History Channel on occasion and learn so much. Many people do not realise that history has a bad habit of repeating itself, so they need to find out what happened in the past.
I have met people that were in the Vietnam War, but they never wanted to talk about it. I understood and never pushed the subject. It just sort of came up in general conversation.
I hope that all Americans take the time this weekend and remember all of our soldiers and what they have done in the past for us as well as what they are doing for us right now and in the future.
I salute you, sir. For remembering. As a young Marine saluted me that day at The Tomb of the Unknowns.
WWI ended with the US who had helped save Europe having to sign a non-agressive treaty, even though we had never made a move to attack any other country. It was almost as much an insult to our troops as what France did in sel;ling us a weapon so poorly designed that they would not even let their own troops use the weapon.
These brave souls that have fought the wars this nation has been in, have been so mistreated by the media, and yet the media has been proptly rewarded for this.
Maybe the media should have to list one thousand vets every day and appologize to them, until they have appologized to every man and woman that has served this great nation, at their own cost. And maybe, just maybe they would think differently about making them look the way they do.
Thank you for sharing your tribute to this proud soldier.
The recognition is always there - when the need for it is put before us. What is hidden cannot be known - or recognized - so thanks again.
Thank you to Pfc Ed and all the others who have died for our freedom. Thank you to Sean-Paul for reminding us of our heroes.
My father fought in WWII. He served in the Navy.
interesting article and good point.. as you say many don't know much about the past..
while the Germans financed and supported it, it was the Bolshevik revolution that "knocked Russia out of the war" not Germany...